In It For The Long Haul

     Today was our last chance to provision the boat while we still had a vehicle.  In the photo above, we have taken what is commonly used by Krogenites (owners of Kadey-Krogens) as book shelves and bric-a-brac shelving.  We found it better suited as a pantry for bulk food storage.  The lower units behind the cabinet doors are also used for storing food.

     We also used the shelving unit in the guest stateroom to store more food (see above photo), but we didn't stop there.  We also used the other unit shelving in the guest stateroom to store even more food (see photo below)   Yes, we are in it for the long haul.

In Over His Head

     Yesterday was to have been the day to have the existing watermaker on board Big Run up and running.  We had made arrangements with a local marine service to finalize the installation.  The watermaker on board Big Run was installed by a previous owner.  80% of the components are there - the seacock, raw water strainer, pre-filters, electric motor, pump, and filters.  However, the business end, where the salt water converted to fresh water is discharged, has not been finalized.  So our service tech looked at the unit for about 1/2 hour studying the system.  This was not the first time the tech had seen the system.  The tech then informed us that he has installed many watermakers - all were kits with all the components.  We were then advised by the tech that he believes the system was designed to be a manual type watermaker!  Not a good thing when you are looking for "set it and forget it" technology.  So to make a long story short, the tech leaves the boat promising to do research on how to upgrade our system to a automatic system.   We do have faith in him, but for a few moments we didn't when he told us he was in over his head!

Full Time Cruisers

     Today was house settlement day.  In layman's terms - we signed over the home to the new owners and they, of course, handed over a check.  No, we are not homeless.  Our boat is our new home.  No, we are not liveaboards.  We prefer not to be called liveaboards.  Most liveaboards rarely leave the marina, or they jump from marina to marina.  We, on the other hand, will be avoiding marinas, preferring to be on the hook in some far away gunkhole.  Just call us full time cruisers.

 

Warm Days & Cool Nights

We have been on the boat since last Saturday and on the hook since Tuesday.  As you can see in the above photo we have this anchorage to ourselves.  Thank you very much.  It has been a perfect week with warm days and cool nights.

Home Theatre

     When we purchased the boat the only entertainment system was the small LCD flat screen  with a combination VCR/DVD unit below as pictured in the above photo.  The small flat screen never lasted long as we upgraded to a 32 inch LCD.  The new TV was placed under the dining table.  However the "hole" from the smaller TV was still there.  Actually, we think the cabinet was designed for an older tube-style TV. 

     In the next photo (above) the wrecking crew has already started with the dismantling of the cabinetry.  The old design wasted a lot of space including shelving accessed from the galley side.  In the photo above, the inverter can be seen in the lower cabinet and with the door removed from the galley side, you can see straight through.

      Now we have an updated entertainment system.  Unfortunately when we had our yard sales in the spring, I sold our Devon A/V unit. We didn't think we needed an 5.1 surround sound system. - that was a fatal error on my part.   We did keep the mega DVD changer.  Since Grant didn't have a need for his 5.1 system at college we sort of took it off his hands.  With the new shelving unit we have now gained  a new entertainment center and more storage on the backside in the galley.  We will have to wait until we get back to town to locate some trim to complete the job, but for now we have a home theatre system again.

My Last "Big Run"

     Wednesday was Grant's day.  He headed to college with Mom & Dad in tow.  We left our home in Pennsylvania at 10 AM for a 2:30 check-in at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.  After a 4 hour 20 minute drive, we arrived at our destination.  By 4:15 PM we had Grant settled in, and he was anxious for Mom & Dad to depart.  On the drive up to Rochester I kept thinking about Hurricane Earl.  Although Earl was projected to graze North Carolina and continue to sweep on a Northeasterly course, a deviation of  50 or 100 miles to the west would have brought high winds, heavy seas and storm surge to the Chesapeake Bay.   After we left Grant, we drove for about 2 hours until we found a restaurant where we could relax and browse the internet with our air card.  As we waited for dinner, I surfed the National Hurricane Center's website for updates.  It probably only took me 5 minutes to decide that we would continue onto the boat to secure everything just in case.  It was 12:30 AM Thursday morning when we arrived at the boat.  We stayed the night and the next morning made our preparations for Earl.  It was a "damn if you do and damned if you don't" situation.  We drove back to Pennsylvania on Thursday which was another 3 1/2 hour drive.  Earl never made his presence on the bay.  I love to drive and will soon be selling our last vehicle, we drove in excess of 12 hours on Wednesday and I estimated it was about 500 miles.  I guess you could say it was my last "big run" behind the wheel of a vehicle.

T-Minus 2 and Counting

     The excitement builds as we finalize a few things in September/October.  As we look forward, settlement on the house is slated for September 17th.  Then on October 2nd we have one final family obligation at which time we will sell our truck to my niece.  Then, after hitching a ride from my sister back to Maryland and the boat, we have no reason not to start our adventure before November 1st, the day our slip contract expires.

     August was a very busy month on the boat and back in Pennsylvania.   As we packed our last possessions that we are keeping we also packed and moved Grant to college.  Our last big project on the boat was to fabricate and install an antenna rack, I hope we are not confused with some Big Brother Agency with all of our antennas.
     We also made a trip to the travel clinic to receive our second of three Hepatitis B shots.  The bill was by far more painful than the shot itself.  So in six months we need to remember to get our second Hepatitis A shot and third Hepatitis B shot.  Boy, will that put a pinch on the pocket book!